NEW police officers allocated to the Shoalhaven from the latest graduating class at the Goulburn Police Academy might be the last for a while.
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The college’s September intake of students has been delayed until January due to budgetary constraints and fewer officers leaving the police force.
“The police force regularly projects how many new students it will require for each intake,” education and training commander Michael Corboy said.
“We constantly remind prospective students there is no guarantee of placement at the academy until they receive a letter of offer,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy added.
A spokesperson for Police Minister Michael Gallacher said while online studies were still available, police had decided to defer the course at the police academy as they worked out how many additional officers they needed while keeping within their budget.
While the government remained committed to boosting the police force’s authorised strength by 550 officers across NSW before the next election, according to the spokesperson, police still had a budget they needed to meet.
He said there was still a class graduating from the police training course in December.
Police said the delay affected only the students who were due to start on-campus studies and training, and prospective police officers studying the Associate Degree in Policing Practice via distance education were not impacted.